Inflatable tower could climb to the edge of space - space - 08 June 2009 - New Scientist

Inflatable tower could climb to the edge of space - space - 08 June 2009 - New Scientist

Move over space elevator, the latest idea is a giant tower constructed from inflatable Kevlar-polyethylene tubes. The team from York University suggest that a tower 15-km high could be constructed from 100 modules 150 metres high and 230 metres long, with each module constructed from 2-metre long inflated tubes. They calculated that the tower could be extended to 200 kilometres tall but don"t go into much detail about a structure of that magnitude. Gyroscopes and active stabilization would be required to withstand winds, but the loss of a few modules wouldn't bring the structure down.